The invention concerns a band or connecting belt between articles of clothing or parts of them covering the upper and lower part of the body respectively.
It is well known that there are articles of clothing, such as overalls, that can cover both the upper and the lower part of the body giving compact covering and protection to the body itself. Motorcycle overalls should be mentioned specifically since they can be separated by means of a perimetrical fastener connecting the pants to the jacket, and by means of which a rigid type of connection is made.
There are also other kinds of overalls such as those for work or similar purposes where jacket and pants cannot be separated, consenting only an opening large enough to put on the overalls.
The inventor is not acquainted with overalls or other articles of clothing that can be connected in their upper or lower part, at the same time adjustable in fit, in the sense that they can be adjusted to different persons and needs. More specifically, the inventor does not know of overalls in which jacket and pants can be adjusted one to the other in such a way as to vary the distance between crotch and waist, or at any rate between jacket and pants. DE-A-3228720 discloses a special zip-fastener connection between jacket and trousers in a suit for motorcyclists in which continuous pressure fastenening means are provided in said zip-fastener to connect said clothes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,806 discloses an infant garment band including a plurality of fastener members extending above and below the band for securement of a tee shirt and a diaper.
FR-A-2682568 discloses a device to secure garments worn on the lower half of the body to be attached to garment worn of the top of the body wherein each garment is attached diretly to another garment.
In particular, according to the technique used in motorcycle overalls elasticized parts have been designed giving adherence to the body of the user and providing perimetrical connection by means of a fastener that joins the pants to the jacket also with an elastic band which however does not consent extensive tolerance in size, especially as regards the person""s height.
A further limit limit in present technique is the difficulty of adapting the overalls to different uses, while remaining within the main use, such as spots, for instance.
We mention as an example the case of motorcyclist overalls that may have different size requirements according to whether the motorcyclist is driving a sports motorcycle with low handlebar or one with high handlebars. Obviously the need for size adaptability and of the overalls"" reaction to body adherence is different in the two instances, but normal overalls do not suit these different requriements, and therefore the only way of wearing the same overalls and using them in these two different situations is to buy a slightly larger size so that it can be naturally adjustable to the two positions.
Another limit of present technique is to prevent adjustment of the same size to different people. That is to say, overalls that are of a specific sizexe2x80x94say large-used by a person of a specific height cannot be worn with an equal fit by a shorter person or vice versa.
In other words, according to present technique each person needs to wear his own size and overalls cannot be lent or used by other persons.
The purpose of this invention is to overcome the limits of present technique. In particular it is the purpose of this invention to create a composite garment made up of jacket and pants with high adaptability to the situations for which it is used, as well as to the persons using it.
Another purpose of the invention is to make it possible to modify length, angle and joint of the jacket sleeve, just to meet the different size requirements of people with more or less long and more or less heavy arms and shoulders.
In substance the point is to obtain a range of fit with essentially unvaried garment comfort that can be extended to different persons wearing different sizes, and to different situations.
The invention also aims at reducing the number of suit sizes in order to lower amounts in stock, and in fact the possibilities of use of the same size by a greater number of consumers would be increased.
The a above mentioned purposes, and others that will be brought out further on, are attained by means of a connecting band between garments covering the upper and lower parts of the body, such as jackets and pants, or only the upper part, such as jackets with sleeves. This band which closes on itself and is secured to one garment or part of one, and, according to its primary purpose, is characterized by bearing a number of tabs protruding obliquely to the longitudinal axis of said band, suitable for fastening and unfastening to at least one of said articles of clothing or part of it by means of snap fasteners located on said tab and articles of clothing.
According to the invention this connecting band which can be fastened to one of the two garments, for instance pants or jacket , by means of easily removable fastening devices such as Velcro(copyright), widens the range of fit of the overalls to great advantage by allowing easy mutual approach and removal of two articles of clothingxe2x80x94the jacket or the pantsxe2x80x94at the waistline. Furthermore, a so-called xe2x80x9cslidingxe2x80x9d backward and forward effect is obtained, since the mutual fastening of jacket and pants can be adjusted to various positions: for instance, forward approaching and backward removing, in order to meet different requirements.
The band of the invention can also be used to alter the joining of the sleeves to the jacket, thus adjustingxe2x80x94by positioning the sleeves differentlyxe2x80x94the size of the shoulders and the length, angle and joint of the sleeves to provide the best possible fit for the wearer.
Another advantage of the invention is to reduce the number of garment sizes, while assuring a wide range of fit to a considerable number of people as though the number of sizes had remained the same.
Another advantage of the invention is to reduce the number of garment sizes, while assuring a wide range of fit to a considerable number of people as though the number of sizes had remained the same.
This application of the invention could be advantageous in specific sectors, besides sports, such as the military, the fire department, civilian emergency aid, in which special outfits are worn, and where it is now necessary to have different sizes available for the personnel, in order to assure a satisfactory fit.
Due to this invention now the number of sizes can be drastically reduced, while guaranteeing a good fit by means of the connecting band.